Easy Homemade Bagel Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What flour is best for bagels? ›

Bread flour – Because of its high protein content, bread flour makes these homemade bagels delightfully chewy. This recipe also works with all-purpose flour, they're just a bit less chewy than bagels made with bread flour.

Ingredients for Homemade Bagels:

You can use all-purpose flour if you absolutely must, but the texture will suffer. Instant yeast – You can also use active dry yeast, just note your dough may take longer to rise. Learn more about active dry vs. instant yeast here.

Each seem really complicated to make at home. That's why you'll often find them on your baking bucket list. But secretly, they couldn't be easier. Homemade bagels taste fresher, are cheaper, and you'll earn the bragging rights for from-scratch baking.

Make sure you use only baking soda and not baking powder. The baking soda helps the bagels form that beautiful golden crust and give them the distinct bagels taste. Use bread flour instead if you want, or any high-gluten flour, this will help create more glen in the dough.

Bread Flour Substitute

You can always substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour one for one in any recipe that calls for it. Your bread might not raise quite as high or have quite as much chew, if you are using all-purpose flour, but it will still be delicious and homemade and all the good things.

All-purpose flour can also make great bread — many professional bakers use and love it in their loaves. It can be particularly good for Irish soda bread or other quick bread recipes that use baking soda instead of fermentation to leaven the dough and are meant to have a denser crumb.

As we've already discussed — bagel dough is a low-hydration dough and we want it to be stiff, smooth, and not sticky at all. Working with bread flour will help you get those truly optimal results. That said, you absolutely can use plain old regular all purpose flour to make your bagels.

Yep. The thing about pizza dough is that it is actually very similar to bagel dough. It uses high gluten flour for that great stretchy quality, so you will get something that tastes like a bagel and not just round bread.

If your dough is too wet, it'll create large holes in the crumb of the dough and your bagels will be more like French bread, with a fluffy interior (see top photo). When too much flour is kneaded in, bagels become dense, hard and tough, instead of crisp and chewy.

Why do you put a hole in a bagel? ›

Ever wondered why bagels have holes in the middle? The basic shape is hundreds of years old and serves lots of practical advantages besides an even cooking and baking of the dough. The hole also allowed them to be threaded or piled high on a dowel which made them easier to transport and display.

Baking soda makes the water more alkaline, giving the bagels a pretzel-like quality that contributes to their chewiness. Just one teaspoon helps the bagels develop a shiny, dark-brown exterior as they bake.

The New York Water and Local Ingredients

Much like a specific vineyard terroir is used to make a wine, certain minerals in New York City tap water are attributed to creating the best bagels. These include low concentrations of calcium and magnesium and a high level of sediment.

First, bagels can have more calories and carbs than bread because the serving size tends to be higher. However, this does not inherently make bagels less healthy, it just means when you eat a bagel you need to pay attention to how much you're eating and what you're pairing with it.

Bread Flour

This comes in handy when baking yeasted breads because of the strong gluten content required to make the bread rise properly. Bread flour makes for a better volume and a chewier crumb with your bakes. Bread flour is best used for: artisan breads, yeast breads, bagels, pretzels, and pizza dough.

As we've already discussed — bagel dough is a low-hydration dough and we want it to be stiff, smooth, and not sticky at all. Working with bread flour will help you get those truly optimal results. That said, you absolutely can use plain old regular all purpose flour to make your bagels.

“AP flour can be used in the making of rich or enriched breads such as soft rolls, or brioche,” says Chef Stephen, which are meant to be softer in nature, rather than crusty.

Much like a specific vineyard terroir is used to make a wine, certain minerals in New York City tap water are attributed to creating the best bagels. These include low concentrations of calcium and magnesium and a high level of sediment.